At Last
by No-Name-Kate
Summary: Just after the team defeats the Light and everything begins to resemble normalcy, Artemis breaks it off with Wally and sends him on a hunt to find the one thing missing from his life.


**This story takes place after the "invasion"...I guess. Supposing the undercover mission goes well, the team defeats the Light, and Artie and Kal come back alive (and everyone else for that matter). This is pretty much Wally's thoughts after everything is said and done. For those who are curious, the last episode I saw was "Darkest" and I've yet to see "Before the Dawn" on CN—even though the listings say it's on—so I suppose this is Pre-Before the Dawn. Whatever. Enjoy.**

**One week after success**

The cave is silent. Sure there are the sounds of construction, the place being rebuilt and all, and the side conversation from teammates, but there is a different kind of silence. Something oppressing and weighing down on the younger ones; M'gann, Conner, Lagann, Jamie, Barbara, all of them. But they are the ones pushing through it, trying to grasp a hold of the future. Then there are the ones stuck in the past, the ones still—in their minds—fighting a battle they had already won. Kaldur, Richard, Artemis, and Wally.

The red-haired speedster is the one deepest in mental turmoil at the moment. His head in hands and his body sinking into the couch. All around him his friends move together fixing the place up, but he can't push himself to do a thing.

A familiar scent surrounds him and he feels the weight of someone next to him, he knows who it is without looking up.

"Artie." His voice is quiet; insecure.

She sighs deeply, "Is it him?"

Wally leans back into the couch, sinking into the plush cushions further. His eyes slide close as he recalls what had happened just four days ago...

**...**

"_I'm sorry for deceiving you all, but it was what had to be done. In the end we succeeded and we brought down a prominent crime force." Nightwing's cool and confident voice resounded in the Hall of Justice library._

"_Lying? Lying to us, people you are supposed to trust is what had to be done?!" Barbara yells, furious at being kept out of the loop. She thought she knew Dick better than that. She thought they told each other everything. She was wrong, but she didn't know just how wrong she was._

"_I understand." Conner's voices his opinion._

_Nightwing smiles, "Thank y-."_

"_I said I understand, not that I forgive you for what you did."_

_The small smile falters on their leader's face. He's crumbling in front of them and they don't see it. They don't see that this mission—if you can call it that—was just as hard on him as it was them, both physically and emotionally. They are focusing on their problems, something they weren't used to._

"_No, I will not say that." Blue Beetle murmurs seemingly to himself in the back of the group._

"_Say what Blue?" Nightwing calls._

"_I don't think-." Jaime tries to stop him from finding out what the Beetle had said._

"_Say what?" There was more force behind these words. Jaime couldn't argue, he has both Nightwing and the Beetle pressuring him._

"_Say that a person who lies and deceives his followers is not fit to be leader. That maybe you don't consider or even think about our feelings as much as you should." Jamie's heart is beating rapidly, he's sure everyone can hear it._

_Nightwing is silent, that is the final nail in the coffin. His self hate at the moment isn't helping either. He needed a supporter, someone to hold his hand and tell him he did okay. It may seem stupid and childish, but he grew up learning to question motives and right now if he was viewing these events as a third person he'd tell the person in his position that they were an idiot. His team is right, he isn't fit to lead them. He never was. Nightwing risks a glance towards Wally who had been standing on his left the entire confession, being a part of it and all._

_Wally sees through the lead lined domino mask, he sees the eyes of his best friend pleading for a helping hand. He can feel the emotion leaking off Dick, the nervousness, the fear, everything the gymnast had never shown a soul. It's too much pressure for him. This is why he retired, isn't it? He didn't want to deal with the trauma that came with the hero lifestyle. He turns away from his childhood friend and instead seeks to comfort his girlfriend. His fears got the best of him once again._

_That hammers the nail home._

_With his head held high and his shoulders taught, Nightwing makes an honorable exit. The only good-bye he receives is the computer calling out his name in the monotonous voice that leaves an uncomfortable echo in the room._

**...**

Wally hadn't seen Dick since then, but the redhead couldn't stop thinking about him. Every little thing reminded him of his friend, those pleading blue eyes haunted him while he slept; there was no escape. Was it guilt? Or was it something else?

He shrugs away from the hand on his shoulder, the blonde next to him frowns.

"It's over, isn't it?" Artemis asks with a calm voice. In away it made her seem grown up; more mature and womanly.

"What do you mean?"

"I can see it in your eyes Wally. There's nothing left between us. I thought about it last week too, and at first I thought it was just because we had been separated for so long, but then you gave Nightwing the cold shoulder Tuesday. That's when I knew. I didn't say anything because I could tell you still didn't know yourself, but you can't wait forever Wally, and neither can Dick. He's accepted it, he's lived with it, and honestly I admire him for that." She pulls her legs up onto the couch and tucks them under herself.

"So you're breaking up with me?"

She smiles and says with a melancholy voice, "No, because a part of me will always love you Wally. And I think a part of you will always have a place for me, but the love we have for each other has taken it's course. It isn't the love we need anymore." She places her palm on his cheek.

"Get out of the mountain for a while. Go look for him. Go look for yourself Wally." She leaves with a chaste kiss to his temple and moves to help M'gann with the kitchen appliances.

Wally sits in the surely permanent indent in the couch for a moment longer, pondering exactly what Artemis meant by finding himself. But he is a speedster and thinking for too long isn't in his nature. With a quick exhale and a slight stretch Wally is out of the couch and off running.

Artemis smiles as a gust of wind swirls around her. She feels a slight, feather light pressure on her cheek and she whispers a good-luck to Wally.

**...**

At the outskirts of Gotham, Wally skids to a stop and stares past the immense gates of a house he'd been familiar with for a handful of years now. The size of the house is still as intimidating as it was years ago, the long stretch of driveway still fills him with that giddy fluttering in the pits of his stomach that it did the first time he raced up it as a kid, and the wrought iron gates still made him nervous beyond belief, and for a moment he considered leaving.

"Mr. Wallace, may I suggest coming in?"

Wally jumps as an unmistakable accent comes through the speakers at the gate. Never the less he smiles and pushes open the gate, sprinting up to the front door. The same elderly butler opens the door and welcomes Wally in. In a way, Wayne manor had become a sort of home for Wally. Wally takes a deep breath and smiles, still smells the same. For some reason that made him immensely happy, but why should a house smelling like freshly brewed tea and chocolate chip cookies make him happy? He chose not to dwindle on the topic and instead focuses on the cookies Alfred offers.

"Say Al, he isn't here is he?" Wally eventually gets around to asking. Now that he thought about it, that probably should have been the first thing he did.

"I'm afraid Master Dick is not present. He hasn't been for about five days now. I'd be worried if I didn't know how this family ran." The butler admits.

"Do you know where he is?" Wally tries.

Alfred pities the poor lad, "Regrettably, no. If I had to hazard a guess I'd say somewhere lurking around Gotham or Bludhaven even. But I do not know for sure Sir. Sorry."

"That's alright. I'll just keep looking. It if was that easy to find him I'd be concerned." Taking a final cookie Wally pulls down his goggles and runs to check the Gotham alleyways.

**...**

Wally always considered parks peaceful and cheery, but in the awkward transition of winter to spring, Gotham park is not the place to be if you want a lively atmosphere. Patches of grass are a sad brown and others were an odd shade of green. Weeds are sprouting from every direction making it look messy and dingy. The trees look like demented beings trying to frighten passersby. But still Wally sits in his tattered, old sweatshirt and faded jeans. The park bench is absolutely freezing; Gotham has a hard time letting go of winter.

He hadn't been able to even get a trace of Nightwing in any crevice of the alleys. After checking the last one and his hope being diminished, Wally's feet take him to really the only other familiar place he knew of in Gotham. They met in Gotham park—him and Dick. It wasn't a memorable occasion, except it was. They conversed minimally, at least Robin did, and the mentors did most of the introduction, but even still Wally was able to find something about that small boy in the green short pants to like. They'd have secret meetings at this park, without their mentors knowing. Wally always thought it was so cool to sneak out and run all the way to Gotham by himself. He chuckles at himself now just thinking about it. So many memories in a place so far from home. He could almost see the young side-kick standing at the edge of the park, waiting for him to arrive.

_On the other side of a street I knew_

_stood a girl that looked like you_

_I guess that's deja vu_

_but I thought this can't be true _

_cause you moved to West L.A or New York or _

_Santa Fe or wherever to get away from me_

Wally does a double-take, is that him? He squints and tries to get a better view of the man across the street. He has a slender build and medium length, black hair like Dick. But can it really be that easy to find him? Wally stands up and walks towards the street. His heart is pounding and he can feel his face becoming warm. He reaches the edge of the street, opposite the man he's watching only to see the man raise his arm in a wave. Wally is shocked for a moment, could this really be Dick? Then a petite blond woman walks in front of him and over the cross walk and hugs the man. He begins to see the differences in the man and Dick. But he'd be damned if he still didn't think they looked relatively similar.

With a sigh he straps on his red tinted goggles and takes off towards Bludhaven. If Dick wasn't in Gotham it's sister city was the next best place to look. The run from the center of Gotham to the city takes Wally all of ten seconds, but for a speedster that's a lot of time. His thoughts had managed to wander towards easier times, when they were all just kids trying to make it like their mentors. Back when things weren't complicated, when he and Dick were best friends.

Wally slows to a walk as he enters Bludhaven, his thoughts completely overwhelming his mind. That failsafe mission was really when everything began to fall apart. Dick never seemed the same afterward, and truth be told neither was Wally. He pulls his goggles up to rest on the top of his head and sighs. That was the one mission—if you could even call it one—that he absolutely did not want to even think about. But we all know how the mind works; you try not to think of something and in return your mind brings up everything it remembers of said thing.

Poor Wally is bombarded with snapshots of the mission. Mentors dying, the snow covered ground, Artemis's tragedy, and the explosion. Over and over that scene played in his head. How could Dick be so calm? That 13 year old boy was staring death in the face and he had the audacity to grin and bare it. Wally bites his lip, he wonders if M'gann knew what happened in the building after her and Manhunter left. He chuckles, but it comes out more as a choked back sob.

God, why was he crying about this now? He didn't shed a single tear back then. Why now? Wally looks for a place to sit and calm his fraying nerves and spots a small coffee shop a few short steps up the street. The bells above the door jingle as he pushes in, the smell of the tiny shop washes over him and he makes his way up to the counter.

Generally, coffee plus speedster is a bad idea, but today Wally felt like death himself and he thought he deserved a a tall late. With extra whip. And a cookie. Wally orders his coffee, completely ignoring the barista's attempts at flirting. He takes his drink and moves to the back of the shop to find the dimmest corner he can.

_Oh but that one night_

_was more than just right_

_I didn't leave you_

_cause I was all through_

**...**

_00:10_

_00:09_

_ Robin's gaze flies from the timer to Wally, the redhead feels the pressure of their next task. They weren't going to bust open the doors. They didn't have the power to. They were going to go down fighting like their mentors. Like heroes._

_ Wally feels something in his stomach twist into an impossible knot. Robin pulls out his weapons and Wally tries to swallow the lump in his throat. _

_00:08_

_00:07_

_ Wally grabs Robin by the shoulders, and with out a word his lips were planted on his best friend's. He feels the boy stiffen in his grasp, but eventually the boy wonder lets go of his inhibitions and kisses back._

_00:06_

_00:05_

_ They pull away and Robin smiles, Wally hopes his reddened face isn't noticeable. Robin dives out in front of the oncoming alien onslaught and begins fighting. Wally follows soon after._

_00:04_

_00:03_

_ Wally glances one last time at the skinny twerp that is his best friend. Too bad, he thinks, we couldn't be something more._

_00:02_

_00:01_

_00:00_

_ And then Wally was met with the bright lights of the cave and the helping hands of several league members. What the hell had happened?_

_..._

_Oh I was overwhelmed_

_and frankly scared as hell_

_because I really fell for you_

Wally sips the last of his coffee, tears still prickling in the corners of his eyes. He didn't realize what he had done or what it had meant—to him at least—until Canary had questioned him about the whole scenario. Of course, she focused on Artemis, most everyone did after the whole thing. It was what had sparked the whole thing between the two of them, sure the New Year's kiss had been the confirmation of their relationship, but every avalanche starts out as the idiotic yell of a passerby, right?

Either way, Wally couldn't deny the feelings that had occurred during those few seconds. He cursed his younger self for being such a coward. He was scared of what he felt; happiness, content, and honestly pure feelings. He had fallen fast, and he had fallen hard for the little bird. There was absolutely no denying it, he loved Dick.

The redhead sighs and leans back in his chair, only to jump sky high at the surprising sight of someone in the seat across from him.

"About time you noticed me, Ginger." Tim crosses his arms across his chest, a condescending look is displayed across his face.

"Fuck Tim! Give me a heart attack why don't cha?!" Wally tries to steady his heartbeat and even out his breathing. These Bats were going to be the death of him, he just knew it.

"What are you doing here?"

"Oh, you know, drinking coffee, eating cookies. The usual."

"Don't get smart with me." Tim warns.

"Are you asking me because you don't know, or are you asking me because you want me to think you don't know?"

"Does it matter either way?"

Wally takes a bite of his cookie, "Not really, I just don't like the go-behind route you Bats like to take when interrogating people."

"Who said this was an interrogation?"

"It always is, especially with you. I've never gotten a 'Hey Wally, what's up?' call from any of you Bats." Wally gives the boy a knowing glare.

"He doesn't want to see you. That's why he ran away you know."

Wally laughs and Tim is taken back by this reaction. He wasn't supposed to laugh, he was supposed to get depressed and stop searching for Tim's older brother. Fucking speedsters, not being able to follow basic plans.

"Tim, you and I both know Dick doesn't run from anything. He might turn his back for a moment, but that's only to gather his thoughts and strike back better and stronger than before."

Tim did know that, it was one of the reasons he looked up to Dick—not that he'd tell anyone that he looked up to Dick. The younger bites the inside of his lip, careful to not let the man in front of him know he was winning, metaphorically of course, but still winning.

Wally smiles, "He's listening in, isn't he? You spying for Big Brother?" Wally's stomach flutters at his own question.

Tim sighs, "What's it matter to you? You never seemed to care about him, or any of us before. Why is now so different? You like building people up just to knock them down farther than they were before?"

Ouch, Wally winces. "You have to trust me here Tim, I'm not trying to hurt Dick or you. I just, I don't know what I'm doing anymore Tim." Wally pulls the boy's hands into his own, Tim wasn't sure what he was supposed to do. He wasn't expecting physical contact. "I just want to talk."

"Why? He's not listening, tell me why you want to see him." Despite his previous feelings, Tim feels something radiating off the speedster. Be it desperation, pity, or just pure energy, Tim wants to help.Those forest green eyes are working him over too, looks like Dick isn't the only one.

_Oh I swear to you,_

_I'll be there for you._

_This is not a drive by,_

_just a shy guy_

_looking for a 2-ply hefty bag_

_to hold my love_

"You swear he's not listening?" Wally asks, his face flushing a little. He's a redhead, it happens with every emotion he shows.

"I swear, he doesn't even know where I am."

"I, I want to be there for him." Wally pieces his thoughts together with more care than he's used to, Dick deserves at least that.

"I love him Tim, and I think it's time he knows it." Despite the confidence in his voice, Wally's face is bright red. He drops Tim's hands and turns to hide his rosy cheeks.

Tim smiles and begins to laugh an honest and true, child-like laugh.

"Okay Casanova, I'll tell you where he is." Tim pulls a napkin out from the table dispenser and uses a pen that seemingly came from nowhere to scribble down an address. Wally smiles and gladly takes the napkin from Tim.

"I swear to God, West, if I hear that you hurt him I will come after you. We all will come after you." Tim had on a serious face, glaring his hardest at Wally.

But the redhead just chuckles, "It's terrifying coming from your dad, but from you, the threat is adorable!" Wally jumps out of his seat, plants a kiss on Tim's forehead, and dashes out of the shop before the Bat child can react. Little does Wally know Tim is busy texting his team members about the current gossip between Kid klutz and Nightwing.

_On the other side of a downward spiral_

_my love for you went viral_

_and I loved you for every mile_

_that you drove away_

**...**

The address leads Wally to an apartment complex in downtown Bludhaven, just a few blocks from the police department. With a deep breath and words of encouragement, Wally walks up the front steps and presses the call button for R. Grayson.

The 25.781 seconds it took for Dick to answer were the worst of Wally's life, and that includes the hour he was stuck in detention back during his senior year.

"Hello?" Dick's voice is garbled and fuzzy through the apartment speakers, but Wally knows with out a doubt it is him.

"Dick? It's me, Wally. Can I come up?" Wally bites his lip, glad that these Bludhaven apartments are nothing like Wayne Manor; Dick couldn't see his scarlet cheeks or nervous lip biting.

Wally is patient though, as Dick contemplates letting him up or not. When minutes begin to tick by though, Wally begins to loose hope. Dick either left the building or is ignoring him completely.

"I'll just go then." Wally says. Just before he begins to walk down the steps a low, mechanical buzzer rings and the lock on the doors click. Sighing with relief, Wally pulls open the door and climbs the three flights of stairs at a normal pace to give both him and Dick some time to piece thoughts together. Still, Wally reaches the door all too fast. He raises his fist to knock, but the door is pulled open before he can.

"Hi." Dick says in an almost whisper.

_But here you are again,_

_so let's skip the "how you been"_

_and get down to the _

"_more than friends" at last_

"Hi." Wally says just as soft, but surely twice as awkward as Dick.

Dick moves aside and motions to allow Wally inside and the speedster works on not tripping over his own feet.

"So," Dick asks, "How have you been doing?" He leans cautiously against the kitchen counter.

Wally feels the pain in the ebony's voice, it was the same thing echoed in his own talking to Tim.

"Dick, lets not pretend. Okay?" Wally shoves his hands into his pockets and looks right into Dick's deep blue eyes.

"Okay." Dick finds himself mumbling.

"I want to apologize first of all, for four things in particular." Wally pauses again, trying to get words to work in his favor for once.

"First off, I'm sorry that I was a douche at the debriefing at the Hall of Justice. You needed my support and I shut you down, I'm sorry."

"You-."

"Please, let me finish." Wally cuts Dick off, he needed to barrel through this or he'd never have the guts to finish.

"Second, I'm sorry about the whole before death kiss thing during our failsafe mission. It, you, I don't think I was thinking clearly then and I acted without reason. Third, I'm sorry that I pretended nothing happened after we woke up. It was clearly something huge that should have been focused on, but instead I just shoved the elephant in the room under the rug."

Wally is prepared to finish, but the sound of light, bubbly laughter that can only belong to Dick. For a second Wally thinks that Dick is making fun of him, but then he realizes it's not what he said, it's what he said. If that makes sense.

"Sorry, sorry." Dick tries to pull himself together, Wally can't help but smile at the sight. " It's just, I know how hard it is to put an elephant under a rug." He chuckles again and wipes tears from the corners of his eyes.

Wally shakes his head, of course a circus kid would know the difficulty of putting an elephant under a rug. Of course he would focus on the mental picture instead of the cleverness of Wally's phrase.

"Sorry, okay." Dick takes a deep breath, "What was the fourth thing?"

Wally takes Dick in, the rosy cheeks from laughing too hard, the sparkling blue eyes, glistening from the tears, and the svelte figure, obviously more muscular, but still just as lithe as years ago.

"The fourth, is for something more recent."

"More recent? Wally, we haven't seen each other in a week or more."

"I know, " Wally steps closer to Dick so that their chests are flush up together. "I'm sorry for overstepping my boundaries, and doing this."

Wally's large hands cup Dick's face and bring it closer to his own, their lips meeting in a gentle embrace. Dick freezes, he's backed up against the counter and Wally is on top of him, sorta. Slowly though, he begins to melt as his best friend expresses every feeling he's had for the ebony up until this point in this kiss. Dick feels the excitement of their first kiss, the fright of loving someone with all your heart, the passion of meeting them again; everything.

Dick begins to respond, he slowly moves his lips in time with Wally's and his hands creep up Wally's sides, resting on his chest. Wally in turn moves one hand into Dick's hair and another wraps around his waist and pulls him in closer. Dick can feel his hormones rushing through him, his heart pumping, and blood coursing through his veins—and other places he is ashamed to think of at the moment.

Wally pulls away just as Dick grazes his bottom lip with his teeth. The redhead takes a deep breath to steady himself and notices the ebony do the same.

"So," Wally says awkwardly, unsure of what to do next. "Uh, that was all I came here for. I guess I'll take my leave now." Wally makes a move to go, but Dick stops him.

"Did you mean all that just now?"

Wally looked right into Dick's eyes, "Yes."

"If I decide to start something, something between us, it's not going to end up like before is it? Because I can't stand waiting for someone who isn't going to come for me."

"This will be nothing like before." Wally grins and wraps his arms tighter around Dick's waist.

"Good." Dick smiles, "Then consider us a couple."

Wally can't resist, "And don't worry babe, I'll be glad to come for you." He drops his face and whispers into Dick's ear, "I'll always come for you."

Dick shoves him away with a playful laugh, "You are such a perv! You know that's not what I meant." The ebony chuckles despite himself and the redhead joins in.

It wasn't going to be perfect, their relationship, but who ever said perfect was what they wanted. Dick was absolutely fine with begin imperfect as long as he had Wally right by his side.

**A/N**

**So I'm slow at writing, but I think the length and may I say pure quality of this story make up for being slow at posting new stories. I promise that I have stories going, there are at least two others on my desktop currently so those should be up within what ever timezone I manage to get them up on. But thanks to those who have been sticking with me through my laziness. Love you! :D**


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